Release Event: KILINGIRI by Janna Gray

With exotic locations richly painted, Kilingiri, a saga of love and loss with its many painful twists and turns, proceeds like beads threaded on silk until the circle is completed.

BLURB

1968, Srinagar, Kashmir and Nina is devastated by the death of her new-born baby girl. Sister Angela and Father Michael at the mission hospital step in to nurse Nina back to health but when the friendship between Nina and Father Michael turns to love, Michael makes a decision which will resonate through the years. It is 1981 and in Kinsale, Ireland, Nina, devoted to her son Joshua, lives a loveless existence, but a chance encounter changes everything. Michael is back in her life, he leaves the priesthood and happiness is within their grasp. But when past and present collide, their whole world is turned upside down. Only by facing the consequences of what has gone before, can Nina and Michael embrace the future. Janna Gray guides us masterfully through this poignant story of love, loss, betrayal and hope.

Excerpt

He wiped away the teardrops sliding down her cheeks and caught them on his thumbs. Their gazes held. Then slowly, so slowly, he put his mouth to hers, tasting more tears until her lips parted in a long sigh. The kiss turned hot and hungry, blood pounded in his head as his hands moved down the soft skin of her throat to her breasts. Then she heard him groan. He pulled away from her, rolled on his back and flung his arm across his face.

‘Shit!’

‘Hey, hey … look at me,’ Nina pleaded, cheeks burning and insides churning with turmoil and sweet longing. She hadn’t wanted him to stop but understood why he had … he was breaking God knew how many Church rules and she was as guilty as he was for encouraging him. ‘Look at me please, Michael, don't block me out. We were consoling each other, that's all.’ She gave him a shy smile. ‘Hey, I can see a cockerel strutting around, ready to launch into his early morning anthem, so we might as well get ourselves sorted out for the long trek back to Srinagar.’

Leaping to his feet, he reached out a hand to pull her to her feet. ‘Why’re you so bloody nice? Would you mind packing my gear, please? I want a word with Ravi about having a vasectomy.’

‘But you can't! What about Humanae Vitae?’

‘Humanae Vitae is the refusal of the Roman Catholic Church to enter the modern world! Ravi and Pushpa are living on the bread-line as it is, and there's no way they can afford to feed any more hungry mouths, let alone clothe them. None of these people can.’ His words dripped bitterness. ‘If Ravi won't agree to the chop, I'll give Pushpa the pill.’

‘That's sacrilege! A priest can't go around handing out contraceptives and bricking men!’

‘Wanna bet? Try me.’

AUTHOR BIO

Janna Gray grew up in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and was educated at boarding schools in Kodaikanal, South India and Derbyshire, England. She trained to be a teacher in London where she met and married her husband Simon. His job took them to Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand where she raised two sons, worked at British and International schools and wrote articles for newspapers and magazines. Currently living in the UAE, Janna was the Senior Mistress (a title which caused much merriment among her colleagues!) and Head of Pastoral Care at Repton School before trading her marking pens and report cards for the world of writing novels. She enjoys travelling and sailing and had a love-hate relationship with exercise until she discovered the joy of Zumba where the trainers turn a blind eye to her inability to remember dance sequences. She sings in the shower and with choirs, has an allergy to golf and recently discovered the allure of oils and acrylics – a delightfully messy way to express her inner artist.